Are You Berating and Neglecting Your Body....God's Holy Temple?

by Alia Fisher

Our bodies are God’s gift to us…..and sadly Satan’s stomping ground. The enemy knows how to distort and destroy this gift very well. Our bodies house the very spirit of God and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Even Jesus did not object to Mary’s loving gesture to honor his body with the nard perfume! Being that our bodies are God’s holy temple, they should be a place of peace and reverence. Yet Satan throws various weapons of war into our inner sanctuaries to distort and destroy God’s dwelling. All these weapons begin in our thoughts, so we need to become aware and choose a new approach!

1) We are not happy with how we look…can lead to all kinds of punishment (mental berating, extreme diets, harsh exercise routines, or on the other end, neglecting our health by being sedentary and overeating).

2) We are frustrated with our bodies for not fulfilling some other area of desire (such as living with a disability, or those who have severe or frequent illness or injuries, living with unwanted anxiety symptoms, not being able to use it in ways we want to use it).

The enemy thrives on gradually transforming our minds and poisoning our attitudes! He is slowly destroying what God would want us to nurture and care for. Furthermore, these thoughts can become all-consuming and we slowly lose sight of God. We need to be alert and start aligning with God by loving our bodies. When we embrace the wrong attitude about our bodies, we are actually giving Satan power. When we intentionally decide to stop indulging the thoughts, we find freedom and in some mysterious way, we hand God the power and invite victory.

Romans 12:1 – Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.

Today let’s try nurturing our bodies as precious gifts, the way we would nurture a newborn baby’s body. Let’s try lovingly accepting our bodies for how they look even if they never change, and stop pinching our waistlines and dwelling on the negatives. Let’s start eating healthy foods not for weight loss but because it’s the best way to nourish our holy temples. Likewise, let’s start exercising not to fit into a smaller size outfit but because it’s one of the best ways to care for this bodily gift He has given us. Furthermore, the more we nurture and care for our bodies, the more energy we’ll have to fulfill His purposes for us. Moreover, nurturing our bodies is a form of worship and honoring Him by taking the best possible care of these precious temples He has given us. So be sure to capture your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors this week regarding your body to ensure you’re accepting, loving, and caring for it as Christ would have you do.